A new cell phone, a case of wine, wedding invitations, an Eddie Bauer raincoat…. This is not an old to-do list unearthed during a tidying-up effort. These are some of the items left by UPS drivers that were {read more...}

Mei Mei means little sister in Mandarin. It is also the name of Chef Robert Ribant’s beloved Siberian husky and just seemed to fit his new restaurant venture on Court Street in Cobble Hill — Café Mei Mei.

“Friends suggested that people would assume we were an Asian restaurant,� explained Ribant, who was executive chef at Michael’s in mid-town and also has experience at River Café, Hudson River Club, and Windows on the World. “That’s why I added An {read more...}

Location, location, location! That’s what got the Brooklyn Wine Exchange, 138 Court Street, off the ground. It’s next-door to the bustling Trader Joe’s — which does not sell alcohol — making it an easy one-and-two-and-we’ve-got-dinner shopping excursion for busy Brooklynites.

“It was really Joe who pulled the trigger,� explained Patrick Watson, referring to Joseph Mastriano, one of the three partners who opened the new shop on December 4. The other partner is Chris Modica. All three amigos have extensive {read more...}

“What about the paper idea?� This became somewhat of a mantra for Raegan Hirvela’s husband as his wife embarked on a serious study of what type of business to bring to Brownstone Brooklyn. He was well aware of his mate’s creativity; he was as impressed as all of the guests were by the invitations, place cards, and menus that Raegan had fashioned by hand for their own wedding. Raegan admitted a reverence for paper, but in her typical {read more...}

The Department of Parks and Recreation and the Cobble Hill Tree Fund, an arm of the Cobble Hill Association, are partnering again to bring the neighborhood an opportunity to recycle Christmas trees by bringing them back down to earth. Mulchfest 2010 will take place this year on Saturday and Sunday January 9 and 10 at Cobble Hill Park (Congress and Clinton streets) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bring your tinsel-free trees there, but leave wreaths and garlands at home. Do take the kids along, however, to watch the mulcher make mincemeat of {read more...}

It’s not as if I ever required coaching regarding the significance of small business proprietors; my dad owned a men’s shop that supported our family for many years, and I can’t recall my father ever complaining about the long {read more...}

Last week NYC Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe visited Cobble Hill to talk with Brooklyn residents about Brooklyn Bridge Park, the 1.3-mile 85-acre waterfront park that will stretch from Atlantic Avenue to Jay Street north of the Manhattan Bridge. The meeting, at which even standing room was at a premium, took place at Long {read more...}

She graduated from Brown and received an MA from Columbia. She is only 30, but her CV is as lengthy and weighty as that of someone twice her age. And she says that although she loved growing up near Boston, New York always beckoned.

If you’ve conjured up an image of a Wall Street lioness-in-the-making with a six-figure salary who survived the market meltdown, conjure again. Marisa Catalina Casey possesses the intelligence, drive, and, certainly, the energy for {read more...}

It’s beginning to look a lot like a red, green (as in eco-friendly), and Creem Christmas on Atlantic Avenue! The message is that if you set sail for Atlantic, you can meet all your shopping needs, avoiding both your car and the maddening Manhattan holiday crowds. Below are a few highlights:

The Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation (AALDC) is offering Brooklynites a gift box brimming with events. On Thursday, December 3, at 6 p.m., at the Belarusian Church on Atlantic and Bond Street, it’s all about the lights. The annual Tree Lighting Ceremony — at which Council Member David Yassky flips the switch — {read more...}

With alarming new job-loss and unemployment numbers published just the week before, one might have expected doom and gloom hovering over the Cobble Hill Association’s Fall 2009 General Membership Meeting, held on November 9 in the LICH conference center. After all, announcements for the meeting advertised a panel discussion focused on “Surviving the Economic Downturn in Cobble Hill.� What the audience heard instead, however, was a rather upbeat message about our little corner of the world. {read more...}

By mid-November, the days of leisurely park-bench lunches and swinging Thursday night summer concerts are just fond memories. But recent events in Cobble Hill Park at Clinton and Congress streets indicate that the neighborhood’s jewel in the crown is really a park for all seasons.

Before parading through the streets of Cobble Hill in full Halloween regalia for the 15th Annual Cobble Hill Costume Parade, local kids and adults alike gathered in the park on October 31, so {read more...}

Fait accompli! On Monday, October 26, the City Council voted unanimously in favor of the Department of City Planning’s Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street Waterfront District Contextual Rezoning proposal. The Council vote is the final step in the mandated ULURP review process. The idea behind the push to change the rules is to install “preservation rezoning,� explains City Planning, so that future development will match the existing “built character� of the community. In essence, the new laws change the zoning {read more...}

It’s on all of our minds, so why not meet and discuss it. And, indeed, we will. The focus of the Cobble Hill Association Fall General Membership meeting is “Surviving the Economic Downturn in Cobble Hill.� The meeting notice observes that many in the neighborhood work — or worked — in the hard-hit areas of finance, media, and law. It is no surprise, then, that the impact on these industries has filtered down to local restaurants, real estate, {read more...}

Shake out those wigs and ferret out those fake fingers — Halloween is just around the corner — the corner of Clinton and Congress in Cobble Hill Park! If you’re new to the hood, the Cobble Hill Park Halloween Parade is a sight to behold. Last year the event attracted over 1,000 kids and their grownups. Since October 31 falls on a Saturday this year, event organizers expect an even larger crowd.

Beginning at 4 p.m., blocks surrounding the {read more...}